What follows is a personal testimony of Elder Sophrony, or rather, it is a careful and spiritual approach to the great patristic figure of Elder Sophrony.

In the first part of the book, an attempt is made to present the great figure of the Elder, primarily through his own writings that he left us as a rich heritage. As I read these texts from time to time, I realized that Elder Sophrony moves between Saint Symeon the New Theologian and Saint Gregory Palamas, sharing similar experiences and gifts with them. Experiences similar to those of Saint Symeon the New Theologian are recorded in his book "We Shall See God as He Is," just as he did in his works. At the same time, he engaged in dialogue with scholastic academic theology in the published correspondence with Balfour in the book titled "The Struggle for Knowledge of God," as Saint Gregory Palamas did with the scholasticism of his time.

Thus, while outlining the spiritual figure of Elder Sophrony in this first part of the book, I mainly used the sayings of these two great Fathers of the Church, namely Symeon the New Theologian and Gregory Palamas.

In the second part of the book, I tried to describe what I learned and experienced in his presence during my visits to the Essex Monastery. Of course, the entire atmosphere I lived in during that time, as well as my great quests, is described first. Only in this way can the blessing of God, who opened this marvelous and great treasure to me, be appreciated.